Death... and me

Roan looked at Rean before saying, "I've been thinking for a while and decided to take him with us."

Rean looked at Roan in surprise, saying, "Since when did you want to be a father?"

Roan truly felt like giving Rean a beating once he heard that. "Father, your head! I'm interested in his sensory ability. His cultivation is very low, but he can already find anyone's locations up to hundreds of meters away. It'll be a great asset for us during our travels if we train him properly."

Rean still found it strange. "Even if that's the case, would you train him from scratch? He's very young, after all. Back when you took Zuo in with his Magnetism Affinity, you didn't really have to bring him around. You only trained him every now and then in the Freedom Sect. It'll be different with Luan, you know?"

Roan didn't seem to mind. "How many people have we traveled with? How many of them have I trained before? If I can make someone like Malaka improve, I can make anyone do the same."

Rean was taken aback, seemingly agreeing with his words. "You truly have a point there."

Somewhere on a certain planet in the Mortal Realm, a certain girl sneezed several times.

Rean then looked at Luan and asked him, "What about you? I'll be honest here. Our journey might be very dangerous. If you take up Roan's offer, you might really die at some point."

Luan was still very young to process such hard decisions. Still, he at least knew what danger meant after living alone for several months in Dry Sky City. "I think... it won't be much different from now..."

Roan nodded in response. "Indeed. The life you had after your parents disappeared could be said to be anything but safe. However, it'll be even more dangerous in our case. On the other hand, you won't need to care about anything else. I'll properly train you so that you will be able to protect yourself and help Rean and me at the same time."

Rean couldn't help but ask Roan after that, "Why did you change your decision? Earlier that day, you didn't seem to be that eager to bring him with us."

Roan agreed with Rean, responding, "And I wasn't going to change my mind. However, his ability gave me an idea. Could it be that his ability is even better than the natural spatial detection Void Tempering Realm cultivators and above have? At the moment, we have no way to hide from it, so it'll be much better if we're the first ones to notice the other part."

Rean pondered in silence for a bit and had to admit Roan was right. "Well, we won't know for sure before Luan cultivates to a much higher realm. However, it's indeed worth a shot."

As for Luan, he had already made his decision from the moment Roan asked. Roan saved his life before. Well, Luan wasn't really going to be killed. It was just a beating for stealing food. In any case, Luan somewhat began to rely on Roan. "I want to go as well."

Rean looked at Roan and the boy and couldn't help but mention, "He doesn't speak much, so I guess you two will get along quite well."

Roan didn't deny that. "One more reason for me to take him in."

Rean then bade farewell to Roan and left to have some fun in the city. His group wouldn't be going out until a few days later anyway.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the same Vankotis Region, there was a big city called Flidas. Its population was over a hundred million, which was a huge number for a place like the Treavin Continent. Vankotis Region had a total of six countries, and Terga Country was the country where Dry Sky City was located. However, Flidas City was located in the most prosperous country at the center of that region, Lintao.

Flidas was not known for its size, though. Instead, it was known for being the home of one of the big powers of the Vankotis Region, the Traste Clan.

In that same clan, deep inside one of its most prominent residences, an old man was reading the letter one of his subordinates had just brought to him. "What?! Zostemou signed a Soul Binding Contract?! Even though he was unwilling, the contract still took effect?! What the hell is happening here?!"

The subordinate shook his head as he replied, "Lord Mou, we're not entirely sure. Soul Binding Contracts shouldn't work if you're not genuinely wishing to sign them. That means that young master Zostemou is lying that he was unwilling or that some different type of Soul Binding Contract was used. According to the letter, he forced his subordinates to try and break the contract. After all, they were also unwilling. However, the two he was able to convince to do that died straight away."

Lord Mou was also known as Mou Traste. He was the head of one of the main family lines of the Traste Clan and had a lot of power in the clan's decisions. Above that, he was Zostemou's father. "I sent Zostemou out to gain experience. He wasn't supposed to return to the clan before reaching the Transition Realm, at the very least. Now he's bound to play some hero bullshit in a shitty city for a hundred years? Who did that?! Was it one of the other powers in our Vankotis Region?"

That subordinate found it to be unlikely. "I doubt so, Lord Mou. Even though young master Zostemou is your child, he's far from having any meaningful influence in the clan. Other than making you angry, the other powers wouldn't gain anything from forcing him to stay in Dry Sky City for a hundred years. If anything, they should have just killed him straight away."

Mou then tried to calm down as he nodded his head. "Indeed. From what is said here, he wasn't the only one forced into this contract. Many of the forces that controlled the city had to do the same thing." After calming down, he also noticed the main problem. "A Soul Binding Contract that works regardless of the wishes of the person signing it..."

Mou looked at his subordinate before saying, "I'm going out. Tell Druvan and Regil to come out of their seclusion and follow me. We need to check if such a Soul Binding Contract really exists."